Daily Archives: March 15, 2013

Lawyers for the NCAA wrote in a federal-court filing Thursday that if the association’s current amateurism rules were lifted, as proposed in a lawsuit pertaining to the use of college athletes’ names, likeness and images, some schools might exit Division I or Bowl Subdivision football because of the financial and legal burden that would result from needing to share revenue with football and men’s basketball players.

The assertion was backed by written statements from a group of conference and university executives, including the University of Texas’ top athletics officials, the chancellor of the California State University system and the presidents of Utah State and Wake Forest.

Texas “has no interest in a model that would force us to professionalize two sports to the detriment of the balance of the athletics department’s sports, fitness and educational programs,” says a statement from Texas athletics director DeLoss Dodds and Texas women’s athletics director Christine Plonsky. Dodd and Plonsky oversee a program that generated a college-sports record $163.3 million in 2011-12, according to its recent financial report to the NCAA report.

Let’s face it – that’s how the rich stay rich. And if the ‘Horns have no interest, why should we expect that any school should? Summary judgment, and be quick about it, my good jurist!

If that’s not clear enough, Wake Forest wants to make sure when the NCAA says prevail, it means prevail on any part, even if that results in twisting a few definitions along the way.

Hatch’s statement in Thursday’s filing said: “Instituting a pay-for-play model, even if the payments are deferred to after graduation would change the nature of the relationship Wake Forest has with its football and men’s basketball student-athletes. It would, essentially, turn those teams into professional squads. That would not be acceptable to Wake Forest.”

Now remember, first of all, the type of compensation the plaintiffs seek:

In seeking certification of their suit as a class action, the plaintiffs’ lawyers said that while they are seeking monetary damages on behalf of former athletes, they “do not seek compensation to be paid to current student-athletes while they maintain their eligibility” but rather “a less restrictive, namely that monies generated by the licensing and sale of class members’ names, images and likenesses can be temporarily held in trust” until their end of their college playing careers.

Calling that “pay-for-play” is a stretch. What is being sought is that moneys being generated from use of players’ likenesses be shared between schools and athletes. And we’ve really gone down the rabbit hole if players who are not being paid (because such payments are deferred until they’ve left college) are to be labeled professional, while student-athletes who were fortunate enough to be paid for their professional participation in sports other than the ones in which they’re engaged at college aren’t. I think I’ll need a new dictionary.

And that doesn’t even begin to take into account that some of the revenues in question aren’t generated until the student-athletes have left college.

But here’s the best part of all from the NCAA’s legal eagles:

“The likelihood that at least some schools would simply stop providing athletics-based aid … either by eliminating their football or men’s basketball team, or by adopting a Division III model prohibiting all athletics-based aid means some portion of the class is better off in the real world … and therefore suffered no antitrust impact from Division I’s allegedly illegal rules.”

Get that? In other words, players, you’ll lose by winning, because your schools will simply choose to walk away. So it really doesn’t matter if there’s an antitrust violation now.

I guess this is how you define doubling down. The question going forward will be whether the NCAA’s shrillness resonates with the judge. If it doesn’t, and things go badly enough at trial, my bet is that eventually the NCAA goes fishing for an antitrust exemption.

I’m not sure this story has gotten as much attention as it perhaps deserves, in part because the major thrust of it seems to be about restricting colleges in Georgia from adding sports programs or changing competition levels, but it’s worth noting that the state Board of Regents has decided it wants to get in the athletic department budget management business, too.

Moving forward, the University System of Georgia will periodically review athletic programs for “financial and program soundness.” There will also be annual audits of separately incorporated athletic associations. It’s too soon to say what will happen to programs found to have financial problems.

Huckaby said the policy shows the board’s commitment to making sure the money students, donors and others provide is used properly.

“Used properly” is one of those eye-of-the-beholder standards. I’m guessing that Hank Huckaby and Mark Richt aren’t always going to agree on how athletic department moneys will be spent, and that’s going to be tough luck for Mark Richt. Of course he’s not going to hear about it directly from the regents, because they’ll use the school presidents as their cutoffs. Which is why I tend to discount Bernard, Jr.’s bow to academics and expect there’s something, um, more political behind this.

Georgia is one of the few fortunate schools making money off its athletics. In an era when its new president is sensitive to money issues resulting from less and less public support for the university system as time goes by, siphoning off some of those profits that football generates sure could come in handy. And that’s something I doubt the BOR has missed.

Maybe I’m getting too far ahead of things here. But at a minimum, it’ll be worth keeping a close eye on this over the next few years, especially since prospects for Georgia’s athletic department to continue as a golden goose look ever stronger.

Remember how Bear Bryant used to stockpile more players than he’d ever need, just to keep them out of the hands of rival programs? It looks like Nick Saban’s taking a page out of the same book, albeit with a twist: he’s collecting recruiting coordinators.

Ole Miss’ coordinator of recruiting development Tyler Siskey — who was AJ McCarron’s quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator during his four-year stint at Mobile’s St. Paul’s Episcopal School — is set to take a position on Nick Saban’s support staff at Alabama, a source confirmed to AL.com.

It’s unknown what title Siskey, a 35-year-old Anniston native, will hold with the Crimson Tide.

Keep in mind this move comes a week after the NCAA’s Rules Working Group announced its intention to suspend Prop. No. RWG-11-2, “which eliminated the definition of recruiting coordination functions that must be performed only be a head or assistant coach, be suspended until appropriate modifications can be made.” So either ol’ Nick is skeptical they’re going to go through with the suspension, or he just doesn’t care. Either way, Ole Miss is down a guy.

Quote Of The Day

“It brings back a great Bulldog running back in Thomas who has NFL playing experience and has had success as a college coach at multiple schools. He also inherits a position that has been built to an elite level by Bryan. And it gives Bryan the opportunity to return to coaching the position he played and the one where he cut his teeth serving as a graduate assistant under wide receiver coach John Eason here at UGA. It also provides him with a new experience as a passing game coordinator.” -- Mark Richt, AB-H, 2/16/15